Estimation of genetic parameters for BW and body measurements in Brahman cattle

Body weight and body measurements are commonly used to represent growth and measured at several growth stages in beef cattle. Those economically important traits should be genetically improved. To achieve breeding programs, genetic parameters are prerequisite, as they are needed for designing and predicting outcomes of breeding programs, as well as estimating of breeding values. (Co)variance components were estimated for BW and body measurements on Brahman cattle born between 1990 and 2016 from 17 research herds across Thailand. The traits measured were BW, heart girth (GR), hip height (HH) and body length (BL) and were measured at birth, 200 days, 400 days and 600 days of age. The number of records varied between traits from 18 890 for birth BW to 876 for GR at 600 days. Estimation of variance components was performed using restricted maximum likelihood using univariate and multivariate animal models. Pre-weaning traits were influenced by genetic and/or permanent environmental effects of the dam, except for BL. Heritability estimates from birth to 600 days of age ranged from 0.28 +/- 0.01 to 0.50 +/- 0.06 for BW, 0.27 +/- 0.01 to 0.43 +/- 0.09 for GR, 0.28 +/- 0.01 to 0.58 +/- 0.08 for HH and 0.34 +/- 0.01 to 0.51 +/- 0.08 for BL using univariate analysis. Heritability estimates for the traits studied increased with age. A similar trend was observed for the phenotypic and genetic correlations between subsequent BW and body measurements. A positive correlation was observed between different traits measured at a similar age, ranging from 0.22 +/- 0.01 to 0.72 +/- 0.01 for the phenotypic correlation and 0.25 +/- 0.04 to 0.97 +/- 0.11 for the genetic correlation. Also, a positive correlation was observed for similar traits across different age classes ranging from 0.07 +/- 0.03 to 0.76 +/- 0.02 for the phenotypic correlation and 0.24 +/- 0.11 to 0.92 +/- 0.05 for the genetic correlation. Therefore, all correlations between body measurements at the same age and across age classes were positive. The results show the potential improvement of growth traits in Brahman cattle, and those traits can be improved simultaneously under the same breeding program.